Portable crimping tool



Aug. 21, 1962 J. M. RENSINK PORTABLE CRIMPING TOOL V w MM 0A m;

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 &

INVENTOR.

Filed Oct. 25, 1960 Aug. 21, 1962 J. M. RENSINK PORTABLE CRIMPING TOOL 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 25, 1960 m Q m R 7 a w fi 5 r M w x Mfi M Q md Q m wb W gig. I g M w H Y X .1 n w B y 73% Q 7 g & My 0 w A w 5 Q g fa Z r rim 2 a 1||I|1||H\H, w g /Yv w H a n y "Kw w B United StatesPatent "ice 3,il49,951 PQRTABLE CING T001.

John M. Rensink, Tinley Park, 111., assignor to Amphenol- BorgElectronics Corporation, Broadview, ill, a corporation of Delaware FiledOct. 25, 1960, Ser. No. 64,847 2 Claims. (Cl. 81-15) The presentinvention relates to a power-actuated apparatus for crimping thecontacts of electrical connectors or the like to their conductors.

Traditionally, devices for crimping electrical contacts onto the ends ofwires have been hand-operated devices having the general appearance of apair of pliers. When a worker uses such a device for securing numerouscontacts to wires throughout the day, his hand becomes exceedingly tiredbecause of the pressure that necessarily must be applied to the tool toperform the crimping operation. Still, inadequate or non-uniform forceon the tool results in faulty crimps which, while not easy to detect,may result in disastrous circuit failures. To overcome this, variouspower-actuated cnimping devices have been proposed, but those presentlyavailable have a number of disadvantages. In the first place, they tendto be bulky and awkward to use. Where the manual devices were tiresometo use because of the physical exertion in applying a crimping pressure,the power-operated devices heretofore proposed to supplant them aretiresome to use because of the weight and bulkiness that must besupported. Furthermore, in operations such as applying contacts to thewires of a preassembled harness, the bulkiness of these devices becomesan obvious disadvantage.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide apower-actuated hand crimping tool which is compact,'easily operated andproduces a secure and uniform attachment of the wire to the electricalcontact. As will be readily apparent, embodiments of the presentinvention may be held and operated by one hand, leaving the other handfree to position the wire in the sleeve of the contact to which the wireis to be secured. The compactness of the device, particularly in thatregion in which the wire and the contact are positioned for attachment,enables the use of the device under almost any circumstances. Theembodiments are light in weight and the power. supply connections arepositioned so as not to interfere with the operation of the device. Thedevices are relatively inexpensive to manufacture and yet areexceedingly sturdy with along operating life requiring little servicing.

The present invention permits the embodiments thereof to be securelygripped by the four fingers and palm of one hand, which permits the mosteffective and natural gripping of such a device. It further provides astructure in which the actuating member is operated by the thumb whenthe device is so gripped. This is in contrast to prior art deviceshaving an actuating lever which must be operated by one or more of thefour fingers (other than the thumb), which results in a relaxing of thegrip on the device each time an actuating cycle is performed.

Further objects and advantages will become apparent from the followingdescription taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the contactof an electrical connectorhaving a wire secured to it by means of an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIGURE 2. is a front elevational view of a present preferred embodimentof the invention.

FIGURE 3 is a central sectional view taken substantially on the line3--3 of FIGURE 2 and the line 3--3 of FIGURE 4. i

Patented Aug. 21, 1962 FIGURE 4 is a central sectional view along theline 4-4 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmental sectional view similar to FIGURE 4 butillustrating an alternative position of the parts; and

FIGURE 6 is a fragmental sectional View similar to FIGURE 3 butillustrating an electrical contact and the conductor thereof in positionfor crimping.

The illustrated embodiment of the invention includes a body or frame ofgenerally cylindrical shape having a tubular operating cylinder ltlwhich may include corrugations 11 on its outer surface to facilitatemanually grasping the implement. The lower end of the cylinder 16, asviewed in the drawings, is enclosed by a hollow cap 12 disposed over acylinder head 13 threaded into the lower end of the cylinder iii. Theupper end of the cylinder is closed by a threaded ring 14 having aflange 15 and including an integral head portion 16, best shown inFIGURES 4 and 5, consisting of uprights l7 spaced apart from each otherand having 'concavely curved interior slideways 18 as indicated.

The cylinder It! and these slideways of the head 16 serve to house andto provide a mounting for the power piston and related operating partsof the tool hereinafter described, it being understood that the tool isarranged for pneumatic operation and is, accordingly, provided with anvalve 19* inside of the cap 12 and interconnected with the interior ofthe cylinder It) by the screw threaded elbow fitting Zil which, asillustrated in FIGURE 3, includes an internal air duct or passage 2 1.

The air valve 19 is controlled by its operating plunger 22, the upperend of which is arranged to be engaged by the inwardly turned endportion 23 of an upright slide rod 25 housed within the slendercylindrical tube 24 which extends between the bracket 26 on the forwardface of the cap 12 at the lower end of the housing and a similar bracket32 at the upper end of the cylinder. The bracket 3-2 includes aninterior recess 36 in which a push rod 34 is journalled, it beingobserved that the push rod 34 includes an operating cam surface 35adapted to bear against the uppermost end 27 of the operating rod 25 ina manner such that application of inward force on the thumb button 36 bythe operator of the device will move the slide 34- inwardly against theaction of the return spring 38 in the recess 39, simultaneously pushingthe rod 25 downwardly to actuate the plunger 22 and open the air valve19. Upon release of the thumb button 36, the spring 38 will return it toits normal position, as limited by the internal stop member 37 strikingthe abutment 31 and the air valve 19 will accordingly close the airpassage to the cylinder from the supply hose 28 and threaded fitting 29and allow discharge of air from the lower end of the cylinder. Thus,whenever the thumb button 36 is actuated, air enters the lower end ofthe cylinder 10 through the control valve 19 to movethe piston 40longitudinally of the cylinder (upwardly as shown in the drawings)against the action of the return spring 30. The piston may be providedwith any conventional sealing means, such as the O-ring 41 and alsoincludes. a neck portion 42 (FIGURE 4) extending upwardly to an integraloperating cam 43 having semicylindrical surfaces on its opposite sidesin slidable, engagement within the conoavely curved slideways l8heretofore described. 7

'Ihe crimpingmechanisms of the tool are housed within a generallycylindrical transverse bore 4-4 extending through the head portion 16 onan axis normal to the axis of the cylinder 10. Thus, as seen inFIGURES-,3 and 4, the bore 44 serves as a chamber in which a crimpingrotor generally designated by the numeral 45 is rotatably mounted. Therotor 45 has a central axial bore 46 and the entire rotor mechanism issecured to an opi r 3 V crating arm 47 by'machine screws 48 extendingthrough the arm into the several segments of the rotor, as bestshownin'FIGURES 3 and 5. The lower end of the operating arm 47 includesa cam follower roller 49 ex- .tending into and arranged for actuation bythe diagonal cam slot 60' in the head portion of the piston heretoforedescnibed. A The crimping mechanism as illustrated includes a set offour crimping dies 51, each'slidably' mounted in a radial slot 50 in therotor 45 and having a generally pointed tip portion 52 adapted to bedriven inwardly by the engagement of the cam' follower heads on theoutside ends of the dies, with the cam surfaces 57 surrounding the bore44. It follows that upon operation of the aforesaid piston in a mannerto move the cam block 43 from the position of FIGURE.4 to the positionof FIGURE 5 the swinging movement imposed 'on the arm 47 by theoperation of the diagonal cam slot 60 and cam follower roller 49 willmove the rotor in a clockwise direction, as viewed in the figures, andwill thus drive the several crimping dies inwardly to crimp the sleeveof the contact upon the strands of the flexible conductor containedtherein.

V by a workers hand, said frame having an extension at one of said ends;power means in said handle, said power means'including a fluid cylinderdisposed about a first axis intersecting said ends, said cylinder havinga cylinder head at the end thereof adjacent the other end of ablegenerally transversely of said handle to actuate said Uponreturnmovementof the piston by theireturn spring 30, the crimping dies 51 are alsoreturned to'their original positions by tiny compression springs 55housed in recesses 54 behind the individual crimping dies, it beingnoted that the arrangement is such that the springs are held incompression between'the innermost ends of valve; a slide within saidframe and movable with respect to the frame in a direction parallel tosaid axis, said slide having a cam slot therein, said slot beingpositioned angularly with respect to said axis, said slide being connected to said piston for movement therewith; crimping means in theaforesaid extension of the frameand rotatable in said frame about asecond axis normal to said first axis,.said crimping means having anopening along said second to receive'a' contact to be c'rimped; a camfollower in said cam slot; and a lever connecting said follower and saidcrimping means to rotate the crimping means as said slide is moved bysaid power'means.

2.. A tool for facilitating a workers crimping of electnical contacts orthe like, said apparatus comprising a frame having a portion defining ahandle with a pair of ends, said handle being of a'size to beconveniently received in and gripped by a workers hand, said framehaving an extension at one of said ends; power means in said handle,said power means including a fluid cylinder disposed about an axisintersecting said ends, said cylinder having a cylinder head at the endthereof adjacent the other end of the handle, a piston within saidcylinder, and

V a'spring in said cylinder and bearing against said piston by the'setscrew 59' (FIGURE 3 'withthe jig 58 in- 7 contact sleeve 76. With thecontact seated in the cenand said frame to urge said piston towards saidcylinder head; a fluid valve in said handle adjacent said otherendthereof communicating with said cylinder: a fluid supply connection atsaid other end communicating said valve; an operatingrimemberoperatively connected j to said valve and positionedat said one end,said member tral bore of the jig 58, the thumb button 36 is actuated,

causing the push rod 25 to open the air valve 19 and move the piston 40.The inclined cam slot 60 moves'the follower 49 and rotates the crimpingrotor assembly v' forcing the dies 51 inwardly in a manner to crimp thecontact sleeve firmly about the flexible conductor 77. The action isalmost instantaneous and the piston and crimping rotor are immediatelythereafter returned to their original positions by the compressionspring 30. The

'crimped contact and conductorassembly may thenbe withdrawn from thecrimping head.

, From the foregoing it should be apparent that the 7 present inventionprovides a simple, compact, portable crimping tool so arranged that itis easy,.quick and convenient to use. and capable or rapidly performinguniform crimping operations under'any conditions of service;v The unitis simple in its mechanical design and easily handled.

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L. 1. A tool for facilitating a 'workerfs crimping of electricalcontacts'orthe like-comprising a frame having a portion defining ahandle with apair of ends, saidhandle being of a size to be convenientlyreceived in and gripped being movable generally transversely ofsaidhandle to actuate said valve; a'slide within said frame and movablewith respect to the frame in a direction parallel to said axis, saidslide having a cam slot thereimsaid slot being positioned angularly withrespect to said axis, said slide being connected to said piston formovement therewith; crimping means including a generally cylindricalcrimping rotor mounted in the aforesaid extension of the frame forrotation about its cylindrical axis, said cylindrical axis beingpositioned generally normal to the axis of the fluid cylinder,said'rotor having opening along its axis to receive, said contact and a'plurality of radial openings intersecting its axial opening, a crimpingdie in each radial opening, and means to reciprocate each die toward andaway from the axial opening as said rotor is rotated;

a contact positioning jig releasably aflixed in the'axial opening of,the crimping rotor; a cam follower in said cam slot; and a leverconnecting said follower and said crimpingmeansito, rotate the crimpingmeans as said slide is moved by said power means.

Rfe'rences Cited in the file of this patent 1 Great Britain Feb. "is,1932

